The back and forth between super lightweight rivals Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall goes on. And on.
A little friction is generally good for boxing business but Taylor and Catterall have been talking about a rematch for so long that the momentum their drama filled first fight created is in danger of grinding to a halt.
It is 655 days since Catterall travelled to Glasgow and produced the performance of his life, dropping the then undisputed super lightweight champion in the eighth round and outboxing him for long spells. The hard Scotsman dug in and refused to buckle but appeared extremely fortunate to escape with a hotly disputed split decision.
Boxing gets bogged down by senseless rematches these days but after a thrilling fight which stretched an already tense rivalry to its limit, a return made the most sense for both fighters.
Instead, Taylor relinquished three of his titles and eventually lost his remaining WBO belt to a reborn Teofimo Lopez in May. Catterall has boxed twice. Outpointing Darragh Foley and easing his way to a unanimous decision over faded veteran, Jorge Linares.
Taylor and Catterall remain two of Britain’s best fighters and both are more than capable of competing at world title level but the time has come for the heated rivals to put hostilities on hold for a few days, take their negotiations offline and come back when they have signed contracts for what is still – for the time being – an eagerly waited rematch.
“If they come back with an offer that’s sensible and we’re like, alright. Well, f_____g right we’re gonna do it. I’m not gonna fight for nothing am I? It’s a big fight so why am I not gonna be expecting to get big fight wages” Taylor told IFL, expanding on his X post which confirmed that Matchroom had made him an offer for a rematch but that it amounted to an 80% pay cut from the purse he received for the first fight.
“It’s the same with Jack’s side. He should be saying the same as well. He’s just taking the first offer he’s getting from Eddie [Hearn]. It’s a bigger fight, there’s more money on the table.”
Catterall travelled to San Francisco last weekend to watch Devin Haney paint a masterpiece against Regis Prograis from ringside. Haney’s performance was so good that although Catterall was sat just feet away, Haney was immediately linked to lucrative fights with the likes of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or Ryan Garcia or a move to 147lbs. Taylor’s offer to fight Haney received little serious attention either.
The insults have continued to fly since the weekend but hidden amongst the vitriol, there does seem to be a growing realization from both that the rematch is now the biggest and most lucrative fight for both fighters. In fact, it is the only fight.
“They’re not bothered about belts and this and that and they just wanna fight. Then, in the next interview he’s saying he wants to be world champion. ‘My main focus is to be world champion, I’m not really bothered about Josh Taylor.’ Taylor continued.
“Then, he’s just flew all the way over there. Never even thought of, never even looked at, wasted time, wasted journey. He’s got nowhere to go. He’s trying to moan at me. He’s not a draw, he sells about 500 tickets. He’s not got a belt and he’s not got a fight so he’s got nowhere to go except for me getting him his payday and that’s the reality of it. If he wants to put it in Manchester, I’ll fight him anywhere.”